Professor Carolyn Williamson PhD(UCT) MASSAf, FRSSAf, Fellow of UCT

HIV Diversity and Pathogenesis Research Group

Head of Division of Medical Virology; Member of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM); Research Associate of the Centre for AIDS Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)

Carolyn Williamsonleads the HIV Diversity and Pathogenesis Group which has a research focus on HIV vaccine development and prevention science. Her research areas of interest include: elucidating genetic and biological features of the transmitted virus; HIV adaptation and understanding features of HIV-1 subtype C viruses that impact on antibody and cellular immune recognition; HIV-1 superinfection; characterisation of HIV-1 reservoirs. She is also involved in characterising HIV-1 breakthrough infections in large vaccine and microbicide trials. She has designed and developed candidate DNA and MVA HIV vaccines which have undergone early clinical evaluation for safety and immunogenicity in the USA and South Africa.

Carolyn participates in numerous multi-centre national and international studies including the Centre for AIDS Programme for Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD), the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), and the Medical Research Council (MRC) Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships (SHIP).